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lbalazscs | 2 years ago

I guess you missed the part where Linus Torvalds has apologized for years of being a jerk.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/09/linus-torvalds-apolo...

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pdimitar|2 years ago

I did not, but I have my doubts as to whether he was made to do it or if he truly meant it. I tend to believe in the former because it's always accompanied by "stepping back for a while" and "get help on how to behave better". Seems like a standard procedure after somebody manages to overpower you (in whatever hierarchy they have there).

Were cursing and expletives necessary? Absolutely no. They don't drive any point forward.

But: is showing people the door when they are entitled or unprofessional necessary? Very, very much yes.

Feel free to read into the article as your beliefs incline you to. I've known many people like Linus and they don't get "change of hearts". They simply get sick and tired of being misunderstood and just remove themselves from the situations that cause it.

V_Terranova_Jr|2 years ago

There's more to the Linus-style jerk phenomenon than just telling entitled people to piss off (I would be reluctant to call that being a jerk if that's all it was). See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33058906 for an example thread and associated comments. If you're just ranting or passing off subjective POVs as truth and obvious and those disagreeing with you as doing so out of incompetence or malfeasance, that isn't being direct, honest, or straight to the point. It's being a dick.

I've seen brilliant colleagues for whom I have the utmost technical admiration completely fail to improve bad designs implemented by others, because the brilliant person was so dickish about how they communicated to others.